UK data centre of attention

January 16, 2018

Plenty of data set for release today, with markets turning their attention to data being published from the UK.

The Euro rallied again overnight as the USD continued to weaken. The EUR/USD made solid gains throughout the night, hitting session lows of $1.21854 early before going off to the races, adding over 1 cent to its value. It hit a session high of $1.22976 before falling away from those highs to be currently trading at $1.22632. The GBP/USD shared a similar story, hitting session lows of $1.37206 at the start of trading. It then proceeded to at almost 1 cent to hit session highs of $1.38195. It then came back from those highs for the rest of the session. It is now currently trading at $1.37901.

The Dow continues its remarkable run, taking just 10 days to go from 25,000 to 26,000. The Dow rallied just shy of 170 points from its lows of 25,837.60 to hit highs of 26,005.60. It has since pulled back from those highs to be trading at 25,964.10. The Dax continues its under-performance, weighed down by a much stronger Euro. It was at session highs of 13,261.95 from the open, before tumbling around 90 points to session lows of 13,170.20. It recovered somewhat from that point, although it was not able to regain all of those losses. It is currently trading at 13,195.70.

Gold is taking advantage of the weaker USD, climbing as high as $1,344.89, from a low of $1,335.77. It has come off those highs to be trading at $1,339.62.

Turning to today’s events and the most significant data set for release is the UK CPI figure. This data is crucial to the UK economy as it reflects demand for products and services in the UK. This figure may have an impact on the pound. Other data set for release today includes:

Japan – PPI, Tertiary Industry Activity

Australia – New Motor Vehicle Sales

China – Foreign Direct Investment

US – Empire State Manufacturing Index

UK – PPI Input & Output, RPI, Core CPI, HPI, CB Leading Index

Europe – German Final CPI, German WPI, French Government Budget Balance, Italian Trade Balance, SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan speaks